


Shimmer in the Sea

by FantasticFangirl21



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:46:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28875903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FantasticFangirl21/pseuds/FantasticFangirl21
Summary: Roman is your typical merprince, dashing, daring, with great hair. But not everything’s as it seems, for some reason Roman can’t remember his past very well, the kings tell him his memory just is not that great and that everything is fine but he’s not so sure. His suspicions are confirmed when he meets a strange merman out in the outer parts of the kingdom, he dosen’t know why but this purple tailed mystery looks familiar, could he be the missing piece to his past that he can’t seem to remember and why are his fathers hiding his past from him...
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil & Creativity | Roman & Logic | Logan & Morality | Patton, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Dr. Emile Picani & Sleep | Remy Sanders, Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. Roman I

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone in this is a merman/woman 
> 
> Roman is 17 
> 
> All those with royal bloodlines have a power or enhancement of some sort, keep that in mind. 
> 
> I’m working on sketches 
> 
> Please feel to comment with questions or recommendations ! 🖤 love you all and thank you for reading!!

1254 words 

Roman I 

I struggle to calm my breathing leaning against the door of my room, my head on the door. In, out, in, out, relax… I've only tried to sneak out once before, I don't want to get caught so I need to breathe as quietly as possible. There's only one way to get past the overwhelming amount of guards that my dad's have watching me at every second and that's my camouflage. I let out a deep breath, my breathing pace finally quiet enough not to get heard. I open the door. The two guards at either side of the door readily move to attention and look at me. 

“Your highness, why might you be leaving your chambers this early?” The guard to my left asks calmly. They are ordered to follow me if I ever leave, and I never wake up this early, my dad's constantly changing my guards so that I don't get too close to them like last time. 

“I didn't sleep very well and decided I wanted an early breakfast instead. Is that a problem?” I inquire to scare him a bit, questioning royals could be very bad and if these guards just started they may be more hesitant because they don't know my limits. I honestly don't care if he questions me, but his brief look of panic and timid glance at his partner tell me what I need to know. “Because if it is I could surely tell my father about this incident and have you removed from the palace immediately.” I say sternly, putting on an act of annoyance. 

“N-no sir! No problem at all!” The left guard stutters out. 

“We were ordered to accompany you if you left so that's why he asked sir.” The right guard interects. 

“Yes your highness I didn't mean to question your authority, I swear!” The left says quickly. 

“Hmm,” I glare at them for a moment pretending to think. “Fine,” I say with an exaggerated sigh, “you may escort me to the kitchen, but walk ahead of me because your tridents glow and it's rather dark in this corridor at this time of morning.” 

“Yes sir!” 

“Of course your highness!” 

The left moves swiftly into position followed by the right doing the same, I have to bite back a smile to keep up my act. They move in synchronized silence me following behind, we pass multiple other guards, two in each hallway to be exact. If everything goes according to plan they will lead me to the main kitchen door which is right beside the back door of the palace. I can bypass all of these hall guards because I'm being led by these two. We turn down a few more passageways, both of them keeping me in their periphery, and finally make it to the hall with the kitchen at the end of it. As we near the kitchen I prepare to go invisible, dropping slightly more behind them, not so much that they would notice though and activate my royal ability of camouflage. I stop and they continue moving, with one large thrust of my tail I'm darting off to the doors. Both guards behind me just noticed I was gone, I can hear them arguing panickedly before calling for me as I reach the back doors. 

Time for step two of my plan, I swim up so I'm directly above the doors as the guards I just ditched swim over to the ones guarding the door. They speak in hushed tones asking if the door guards had seen me come over here, they reply that they haven't but decide to help my guards find me. My safety is top priority to the guard so it shouldn't be long before they get out the thermal readers to find me. I’ll have to move quicker, the two guards at the door swim off with the two from my room, but only after locking the doors. Thankfully I guessed they would do that, I pulled a slim coral key from my waist and pushed it into the lock, unlocking the door and slipping through silently. 

I move quickly through the kingdom, there are guards around most corners, the kings keep them posted so that if anyones in trouble they can just ask a kingdom guard for help. Thanks to my invisibility I can easily stay out of the way of all of them and after a few minutes of staying as quiet as possible as I weave through the streets I make it to the barrier, this is the one thing I couldn't plan ahead for. Only people authorized by my father, King Logan can enter or exit the field and I'm the last person he wants to leave… I swim to the border marker. I reach my hand out tentatively to touch it but weirdly enough I just feel water. Confused, I swam closer, then closer, then to the other side completely… what…? Why can't I feel… wait am I past it? I turn visible again in relief then reach out to touch it once more. This time I feel the cool glasslike texture before getting an electric shock through my system. I gasp and back away… what was that? 

I hear something move behind me and involuntarily go invisible again and turn around quietly seeing a dark figure dart off to my left, I see the color of their tail in the rising morning light and gasp. The merperson whips around stopping with an anxious frown searching for the source of the sound, I clamp both hands over my mouth and try to silence my breath. I don't move and neither does he, I trace my eyes over him trying to figure out why he looks so familiar. He's got a slim physique, wearing some sort of clothing I've never seen before, it's almost like a shirt but with the hood of a cloak, it's got more fabric over the arms covering them as well and some sort of pocket in the center near the bottom. He's pale and his tail is a beautiful purple that fades off into an inky black tailfin. His almost all black hair covers one of his cutting lavender eyes, his hair starts black at the roots and fades to a dark purple color at the tips. I feel drawn to him, like he's something of a dream, something of a distant memory I have long since forgotten. I find myself swimming closer to him slowly without meaning to, I stop myself and watch as those cutting lavender eyes of his scan right past me. He turns around again and continues his quick swimming off, I follow keeping up with him staying invisible. I have to know where I've seen him and why I'm so relieved to see him, it's like some part of me recognizes him but my memories anytime before the incident are so hazy I can't remember him. Did I know him before I got hurt? Why is he outside the kingdom? What's he doing here? Where's he going? He stops suddenly and mumbles something. I stop as well and watch quietly as the water shimmers for a few seconds before revealing a large crashed mechanism. It's long and looks like it's made of some kind of metal, greenish brown coats most of it but some parts are silver as well. There are windows in a long row he glances behind himself again before swimming inside, I swim to the windows.


	2. Virgil I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone in this fanfic is a merman/woman
> 
> Roman is 17
> 
> Virgil is also 17
> 
> Roman can activate camouflage because e is from a royal bloodline 
> 
> I’m working on character sketches 
> 
> Humans in this universe are seen as myth because all human artifacts are kept hidden to prevent panic 
> 
> The boarder between the kingdom and the outside targets any VISABLE people in or out, hence Roman can get through 
> 
> The boarder also makes the kingdom invisible to anyone outside it who does not have magic 
> 
> I figured I would post both of these today because they are a bit of a package deal to understand some things going on and meet some main characters 
> 
> Senpai is what Virgil called his master who is master is will be revieled later 
> 
> Feel free to leave comments questions and suggestions!!

Chapter 2  
Virgil- 1293

I swim out of the cave quickly. Senpai has been asleep for a while and I wanted to wake up early to get some practice before working with her this afternoon. Just as I am about to round the corner I hear something, it's stifled quickly and I turn quickly around to look for the source, I wait for a few seconds looking before I turn back around to continue. Now my anxiety’s up, but it's nothing I'm not used to, I tend to hear things in the ocean whenever I'm by myself. I try to convince myself that I'm just hearing things… but I can't shake the feeling that I'm being watched. After a bit of swimming in the quiet morning hours I stop. I raise my hand slightly and mutter an incantation, the water sparkles as I dissolve the cloaking spell on the underwater plane crash site. I look around again, still feeling uncomfortably watched, I scan the area carefully, not seeing anything. I swim into the plane through a hole in the back where the tail wings should be. The planes mostly cleared out and many of the seats are gone, after finding this plane I cleared them with a disappearance spell along with the bones and such. I move to the box I keep in here and sift through it taking out my favorite human item, I refer to it as my ‘siren box’ but Senpai told me it's a ‘phone’ I place the ear pieces over my ears and press start. I listen as the drums kick in playing through the headphones, according to the small touch screen box this is called My Chemical Romance, they're my favorite band. Senpai noticed my interest in human items and culture, so she tells me the names of the things I bring back home with me. I take a deep breath and pull some of my human items out of another box, in order to use them I typically have to waterproof them with a spell and then renew them with another spell. The spells aren't difficult to cast but there's so many items that I've gathered, so I have to do them a few at a time each morning. 

I take out another hoodie, waterproofing it before renewing it, my magic causes a blanket of purple to wash over the item, then it sparkles for a bit and turns back to its original colors. I do the same thing to a computer, another pair of headphones and some kind of jewelry, it looks small enough to go around your wrist, it's small and skinny made of leather I think, woven together with a magnetic clasp on the end. I clip it on to my wrist after fixing it with a smile. I feel satisfied with my human items of the day and glance at my reflection in one of the plane windows across from me, I touch under my eye gently noticing my dark magic usage circles are already forming. I frown slightly at it and stand up swimming up to the window to see my reflection clearer, my eyes must have already been dark, I didn't sleep all that well last night… another nightmare. I turn and move away taking my hoodie off so that I can practice my swordsmanship, I toss the hoodie to the side and take my sword from where it hangs on the wall unsheathing it. I set the scabbard off to the side and toss my sword up in the water before catching it, the sleek black blade fitting perfectly in my hand. The hilt is silver with a few black stripes snaking their way around it, small purple amethyst gems stud the onyx stripes on the hilt. I have some unbreakable and sharp enchantments on it and I used magic to design it to my liking. I move through some sword skills I was taught with it for a while, I'm not sure how long it's been but it's now light outside and I feel more tired than I was before. My sweat mixes into the already salty water as I sheath my sword and pull my hoodie back on before putting my scabbard on my back. 

I leave my headphones on as I gather my human items for the day and place them in the hoodie pocket before swimming back out of the plane. On the outside I recast the concealment spell and start to swim back to the caves, in my tired daze I didn't even notice that I nicked myself with my sword when sheithing it. While swimming my spine chills like something behind me and I stop and stiffen my headphones off my ears carefully placing them around my neck before drawing my sword turning around in one fluid motion. My steely confidant gaze meets the bleak hungry ones of a shark. My blood goes cold. I whisper a protection spell on instinct before my lungs tighten and make it hard to breathe. My sword falls from my hand as I freeze shaking and hyperventilating in the water, eyes closed as my paralyzing fear of sharks takes over. I should have been more careful. What was I thinking! I should have checked to make sure I wasn't hurt. I shouldn't have trained with my sword today. I shouldn't have swam out alone. My breathing progressively gets worse along with the ringing in my ears as I wait for the shark attack… that doesn't come. I don't dare open my eyes in fear that they are merely toying with me. Something touches my shoulder and I flinch away hard, I hear them yelp in pain and absentmindedly think that my protection spell worked. Then I realize sharks don't yelp. I open my eyes timidly, my head is still tucked down so I see their tale first, a brilliant crimson red flecked with sparkling gold. The tale has a few white marks that almost look like shark bites on it along with a white stripe down the tailfin. My breath, that was just starting to even out, catches again but this time for a different reason. I trail my eyes up the tail in shock meeting the face that goes with it and confirming my suspicions. I meet his brilliant gold eyes with a quiet gasp of surprise. 

“R-roman…?” The question escapes me before I have time to catch it. I wave my hand and the protection spell falls, my breathing light and airy. I swim closer to him slowly, my eyes scanning his features. He's tall, somewhere around seven feet, he's wearing a nightshirt seemingly, the little gold crowns against the red fabric rippling in the water. His eyes are still the same deep gold that they've always been though the childish gleam in them that I had grown used to is gone. His copper bronze hair is styled nearly perfectly to the side yet still shows that he recently got out of bed. His red scales sparkle as he shifts some, “Roman!” I repeat his name louder this time in surprise and happiness before hugging him. “I-I thought… I thought you were dead… Wait- oh or I'm dead.” I say anxiously separating from him again. I look at his eyes once more and confusion clouds his features, he didn't return the hug either. 

“How do you know my n- why do I recognize you?” He asks in confusion watching me as I float in front of him, my eyebrows draw themselves together matching his confusion. He doesn't remember me…? That's when I notice my sword in his hand and the shark is dead on the ground behind him… bleeding. Questions can wait we need to get out of here.


	3. Roman II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman and Virgil finally get a chance to talk and Virgil informs Roman of some important events that he had previously forgotten happened... traumatic events that may have been better left repressed...Romans memory continues to come more into the light, will that be a good thing? Or a bad one?

**Roman-** **1788**

“I promise I'll answer your questions if you answer mine but first,” Virgil takes his sword back quickly. “We have to go- now.” He says firmly as he takes my hand in his free one and swims swiftly for the caves with me. 

“Wait- but-” I try to speak as I'm dragged behind him through the water. 

“No time for questions Princy we have to move.” he cuts me off swimming into a maze of caves. Princy? I think to myself, something in me sparks again, like how it did when I first saw him a few hours ago. 

_ “Come on come come on pwincy! We haf to go see the pwetty lights!” a four year old purple tailed merchild draggs a tired Roman down the palace hall to see out the window at the newly installed lights in the kingdom. Roman rubs his eyes sleepily.  _

_ “Virgey why are we up this earlyyyy I didn't get my beauty sleepppp” he mumbles as virgil lets go of his hand and points at the lights leaning against the window.  _

_ “Lookie Pwincy lookie!” he says ignoring the prince's complaints. Roman looks over at his overly excited friend as he points outside, his eyes wide in awe as he watches them, Roman smiles and looks over at the lights too. _

_ “I guess they are really pretty.” Roman says with a soft smile laying his head on his friends shoulder and gazing sleepily up at the lights.  _

I snap out of my flash back as he stops, we are kind of far into the cave, I'm about to ask again but he clamps a hand over my mouth before I can. “Shhhhh” he says, listening for a moment, most likely making sure we weren't followed. He lets my mouth go after about a minute. “Okay now you can talk.” 

“I- Who are you? Why do I recognize you? Why did you think I was dead? How do you know magic- why do you live out here? Where did you get that sword-? What are you wearin-” he covers my mouth again.

“Slow down. Gods Poseidon, That is a lot of questions.” he takes a deep breath. “How about this you can ask a question then I'll ask a question, okay?” I nod and he takes my hand off my mouth once more. 

“Who are you?” I ask the moment he removes his hand. 

“Virgil,” He answers, there's that spark of familiarity in me again. In my flash back I called him Virgey. 

“Virgil…” I repeat softly looking down at his tail again. 

“Yes, Virgil, now how are you alive?” He asks quickly and I look up confused, what kind of question is that? 

“What do you mean…?” 

“I mean how- you- the shark attack when we were kids? I saw you it looked like you were…” his eyes search my face finding only confusion. “You don't remember me…?” he asks softly watching me as if waiting on me to explain to him I simply didn't understand the question and that I really do remember him. 

“I- I don't know who you are… but your name, and your tail, your voice… it's all- it's all familiar. You have to tell me how I know you, I rarely remember things from before I was eight, my parents said I just have a bad memory but I remember you- so that means something right?” I ask, nearly cringing from how desperate I sound. His face remains analytical but his eyes betray his hurt, he looks down at his hands wringing them anxiously. 

“Yeah that means something…” He pauses and I watch him think for a moment, he sinks down to the ground and I do the same beside him, we both have our backs to the wall he looks back up. “Okay so… I guess I should explain what I'm talking about, umm…” I watch as he fiddles with his scales on his tale for a moment nervously before continuing. “So when we were eight- er- well first off I guess I should explain how I know you-” he takes a deep breath before speaking in a bit of a timid rush. “So- well, I was the son of two of the palace workers, E-emile and Remy um, they were my mom and dad. My mom, Emile, well she was the head baker and my dad, Remy, was your personal guard. Um, you were usually alone and so was I so we hung out a lot, and our older brother-” he pauses hesitantly before continuing “er- um,  _ your _ older brother Remus would come play with us sometimes, most of the time he did his own thing though. We were pretty close until…” he glances at my tail, his lavender eyes tracing the white designs on it that my parents call birthmarks. “Until the shar- until your eighth birthday.” he stops as he notices my hand pressed to my head. “A-are you okay princy- er Roman?”

I nod but that just causes my headache to get a bit worse “Yeah I'm fine, give me a second-” I say quietly as my head continues to throb in pain, “So… We have been friends since we were kids. Your parents Mrs. Emile and Mr. Remy worked for my parents. Remus… he wasn't distant? Not all the time at least? He mostly ignored me recently before he… well before he died.” I notice Virgil's tail twitch beside me and look up to meet his eyes, “Virgil?”

“...Yeah?” He answers, avoiding my gaze by continuing to examine the caves wall. “Oh I mean yeah, like yes, he was close with us, he would play games with us and stuff um but sometimes he would go to be by himself.” I notice his fidgeting has increased since I brought up Remus, it's making him uncomfortable for some reason, it's probably best if I move past it and continue. My head throbs again. My memory is triggered pretty much every time he mentions something. His parents' names, brought up some foggy pictures of people in my head, a woman with a pastel pink tail and tan hair, long tan hair, holding cupcakes with a bright smile. And a man, a black tail, palace blue armor like I recently escaped from and a black trident to match his tail. He wears a smirk rather than a smile. 

“Okay… so what happened on my eighth birthday?” I ask hesitantly. It's clear he doesn't want to really talk about it and he has seemingly noticed my headache. Upon my inquiry though he jumps on the topic quickly, I must have been right about the topic of Remus making him uncomfortable. 

“Well um, so I was baking the cake with my mother and you were being watched by my father. You and Remus share a birthday, he was turning fourteen, so the party was pretty big. It had people from neighboring kingdoms and things like that. Me and my mom served the cake and stuff and you opened presents. After that the people from other kingdoms started to move back into the palace to change for the banquet later that night. Remus had already ducked out of his party to go mess with some of the palace guests, he liked to play pranks on them. W-we were playing and you fell into a table, and well one of the plates you hit when you fell broke and cut you. It wasn't a big cut or anything but the kings were upset and came to help you, King Patton held you while King Logan cleaned it for you. But um… well… your blood was already in the water. Usually blood in water is not a problem but, well the festivities of the entire kingdom celebrating and things like that had drawn the attention of some s-s-sharks…” I watch intently as he takes a shaky deep breath, as he recounts the events I get flashes, I see the cake, the party, some guests, my parents, Remus. “The kings had helped with your cut and had gotten called inside for some kind of business, me and my mom were cleaning up and you were bored so you were helping, a few of the guards were still outside by the doors. W-w were on the opposite side, you and dad were at a table in the left corner and me and mom were packing up the cake. M-my m-mom s-she saw s-something and t-tucked me under a t-table and yelled a-at my dad to g-get you o-out of there. S-she was t-torn away b-before she could f-finish. I w-watched the sharks r-rip her apart-” he stops and turns away from me as his voice cracks on ‘apart’. When he starts talking again the emotion is gone… “My dad grabbed you and swam toward the door but he was too far away, both of you got ripped backwards and I watched you both get attacked. The guards swam in just a second late, I was frozen the whole time but when the guards came I swam away, hid in one of these caves for a few days… I mean I watched everyone I cared about get killed, some other guards died too. I didn't care much about them though…” he finishes numbly, his eyes trained on my tail blankly. “I thought you died…” he says, his voice barely a whisper. I watch him quietly. That was a lot of information to take in. Now the light marks on my tail make sense, their shark bites, lots, and lots, and lots of shark bites. I don't know how I could even believe that they were birthmarks like my father Logan said, or just a “unique design” like my dad Patton always said. Why would they lie to me? Why would they lie about something so important? My eyes stay on the ground between me and Virgil absentmindedly. I notice his hands have stopped fidgeting now they're just shaking, I place my hand on his. I can tell he hasn't talked about this in awhile, or maybe at all after the incident. He looks so fragile, like maybe touching him would make him shatter. I feel so bad for asking about it. I shouldn't have brought this up but I had to know. Especially so soon after a shark encounter? His reaction to the shark earlier makes sense now... “I'm so glad you're alive.” he says quietly, I was too lost in thought to notice he’s now looking at me, his eyes tracing my features again. “Even if you don't remember me.” His voice cracks on “me” cracking my heart with it… without even thinking about it I pull him into a hug. 


	4. Virgil II

My breath catches when he pulls me against him; whatever resolve not to cry or break down in front of him shatters inside me. I hug him back and tuck my face into his shoulder, my attempts not to cry proving futile as tears sting my eyes. My feelings all mix and swarm inside me causing a confusing combination of relief, anger, fear, sadness, and anxiety. I don't know what I want to feel… what I should feel right now. I sob. I'm not sure how long I cry for, my hands clutch the back of his shirt like a lifeline, his now strong and matured arms I don't recognize around me holding me close. He's so much different now, more grown up but still there's things I do recognize, the sparkling golden eyes, his vibrant red tail, the warm comfort he provides with just being near me. 

_ A young Virgil lays beside Roman in Romans bed tired after a day of playing and talking their way into the night of their sleepover. Roman tucked in his royal blue pajamas and Virgil in the ones his mother had sewn together with little cupcake designs.  _

_ “But Princy I'm scared… What if daddy gets hurt? I heard daddy talking to mommy laster-day and she said his job could be dan-ger-ous.” He enunciates the word in repetition of how he heard his mother say it the day prior, his eyes brimming with tears.  _

_ “Well doesn't he just follow me and keep me safe Virgey? I don't do anything dan-ger-ous or anything, so as long as I stay okay he will stay okay.” he says with a smile at his best friend. “And I won't let that happen, father said he's going to convince daddy to let me sword fight soon so then I can protect me, maybe your daddy won't have to protect me anymore, he can work with your mommy instead and be safe. I'll be the best knight ever so I can protect you and your daddy.” Roman says with a confidant smile.  _

_ Virgil smiles softly and wipes his eyes hugging Roman, Roman immediately hugs him back. “Roman…?” Virgil asks hesitantly after his breathing finally relaxes into sync with Romans.  _

_ “Yeah Virgil?” Roman responds, looking down at the head of his friend, tucked into his shoulder.  _

_ “Can you always be here to make me feel better?” He asks, his voice muffled slightly by the silky fabric of Romans pajamas. Roman is slightly surprised by this question, he knew Virgil always had a fear of losing the people around him, his anxiety was constantly at work there, but he hadn't thought Virgil feared he would lose him as well.  _

_ “Always.” Roman says with a smile, it's not long after he says that, that he feels Virgil's breathing slowly and his grip on Romans shirt loosen. Roman holds him close while he falls asleep mumbling as the inky blackness of unconsciousness takes him, “I'll be here always Vigil.”  _

I've stopped crying now. He's still holding me and I can't bring myself to leave his secure grasp, instead I shift slightly to wipe my eyes, thankfully he keeps his arms around me. “So… you don't remember anything…?” I ask softly. He’s quiet for a moment and for a second I think he may not answer. 

“Well… I've been getting memory flashes recently, and flashbacks… like pictures of your parents, I can remember them-” my tail twitches at the mention of my parents and he stops, noticing, “... sorry…”

“It's okay…” I respond with a sniffle. 

“I also remember you, I had a flashback, of us as kids? We were going to see lights in the middle of the night-” He stops as a laugh escapes my lips. “Are you laughing at me?” Roman asks playfully. 

“No, no of course not your highness, It's just that I remember how excited I was to see the lights and how tired and upset you were that I woke you up.” I smile and move a bit away from him, I sit across from him so I can see his face, maybe I can help fill memory gaps as well. “Thanks… by the way.”

“For what?” He asks with a confused smirk. 

“For making me feel better, and for being alive…” I answer with a small smile. 

He looks at me and his smirk fades to a genuine smile. “Always” 

My eyes tear again but this time I'm able to hold them back, Romans face turns confused again. “Sorry, sorry you just- sorry-” I say wiping my eyes again. “Okay, so you don't remember much, are there any questions you have? I can answer anything you don't remember from your memory gap.”

“Really!?” Roman asks excitedly. 

“Yeah, yeah sure, maybe we can get your memory bac-” I'm cut off as the royal sirens sound at the palace. I jump anxiously- “What the f*ck-” I my hands start shaking again. I've only heard those sirens twice, the first time during the shark attack, and the second when prince Remus first was realized to be missing. I look at Roman who is now looking smaller than he was before, he looks apologetic. “Roman…” I say semi sternly. 

“I uh, well I may have snuck out…” He says guiltily. 

“Roman!” I shout nervously “Roman you can't do that to your dad's! They are going to overreact since Remus came he- since Remus died.” I quickly correct myself, I see a flash of realization in his eyes but before either of us can say anything a sea snake darts out of the cave behind us and swims to the opening of the cave before stopping and turning to look at me then at Roman… damn*t Senpai’s awake. “Roman we have to get you back, like right now.” I say swimming up quickly, taking his hand, pulling him up and toward the caves opening. Senpai’s snake, Selia, is crackling dangerously with magically induced electricity, which tells me Senpai is mad. S*it. “I’m taking him back! I found him and I’m taking him back, relax.” She crackles even more. 

“Wait wait Virgil! Did you just talk to a snake-? Hold on wait- What do you mean since Remus came where?!” Selia crackles with dangerous voltage. 

“I- I didn't say that! You have to get back to the palace.” I say quickly continuing to drag him to the bariar. “Okay hold on a second while I cast a concealment spell on you,” I let go of Roman who is still trying to get me to talk, I mumble some words under my breath and my hand glows purple shimmering in the water as I draw a symbol. I turn around to cast the spell and he's gone, I feel panic well inside me and look around. “Roman?” No response. “ROMAN!?” 

“Shhh! Don't yell, the palace guard will find me!” Roman whispers turning slowly visible again in front of me, my jaw drops as I realize he is on the other side of the bariar. I shake my hand, stopping the spell. 

“What the h*ll are you- how did you- what?” I ask that reaching out my hand makes contact with the bariar and I rip my hand back as I get an electric shock from it as usual. “Ow! How did you do that?!” I demand. 

“Sh! I don't know, I just kind of,” He disappears in front of me again before reappearing in the same spot. “Did it.” 

“Your royal powers? You can turn-” I hear the clanking of palace shields and can see the faint glow of the tridents. “Questions later- you have to go.”

“But wait Virgil-” Roman reaches out forgetting he can't touch the barrier while he's visible. He retracts his hand quickly after it gets shocked. 

“Go!” I yell casting the concealment spell on myself before casting another on Selia who has draped herself around my neck hissing and shocking me every few seconds. I see Roman go invisible again in front of me. 

“I'm coming back tomorrow night.” I hear a displaced voice I know to be Roman get further away. Selia shocks me so hard I flinch. 

“I'm on my way-” I say quietly. “Sh!t.” I curse quietly earning another shock. I yelp, turn and swim back to the caves. 


	5. Roman III

I manage to sneak past the frenzied guards throughout the kingdom running back and forth looking for me, with only a few close calls. I get into the palace, thankfully there are guards in and out constantly so I can slip through the door. Once inside I move through the halls soundlessly to the throne room where I know my dad's are. I slip inside when a guard leaves, he looks scared, father must have spooked him, he can be quite intimidating. Upon entry I see what I had already assumed was occurring. My dad is crying while my father is holding him and trying to explain to him that the odds of me leaving like Remus did are slim to none. 

“-But he's never left before- he- Logan he can't have left, what if he's hurt??? He could have gotten lost!” dad says worriedly. 

“Pat honey, he's not lost, he knows his way around the kingdom, he is very smart. I'm sure he just used his invisibility to go into town.” father says soothingly. 

“But Lo what If he didn't-” dad replies. 

“Patton, “what ifs” are just irrational fears. I'm sure he is fine this isn't like last time.” father cuts him off. Dad doesn't hear him. 

“Could it be because we smother him too much? Do we not give him enough space? He wouldn't run because of that would he? Logan please tell me I haven't been smothering him…” For the first time in the conversation father goes silent, that's what he tends to do when he can't tell dad what he wants to hear. Dad starts crying again and buries his face in fathers neck. Father rubs his back gently and silently and I decide this is most likely the best time to come back. I drift down in front of them and change back to visible. 

“I didn't run away… I'm sorry I startled you…” I say softly, causing father to look up and dad to separate slightly and turn to me. I see dad move from him and wrap me in a hug in a single instant, coddling me and telling me how happy he is that I'm okay. My eyes are trained on father though. His eyes shift from relief to inquisitive in seconds, analyzing me and looking for the slightest change from my normal expression and actions. He must find something as I try to look as normal as possible hugging dad back and talking to him gently as he wipes his eyes. I meet fathers eyes again they are narrowed but then he opens them again regaining an unreadable expression. If anyones going to find me out, it's my father. Dad finishes his hug and begins to tell me how he may have overreacted with the guard and rambles on about how he is sorry. Father gets up and goes to call the palace guard back by going to the head guard in the other room who is mapping where has and hasn't been searched. I sit up and wrap dad in another hug. “I'm okay dad, I'm sorry, I didn't want to scare you I just wanted some space for a bit.”

“What do you mean Ro we do give you space honey.” Dad says holding me an arms length away from him for a moment so he can see my face. I keep my face agreeable, controlling my facial expressions has become a bit of a talent of mine, especially when people ask me things from before I was eight. He takes my silence as another no like he did with father earlier. His happy expression falls a bit. I hate seeing him sad. 

“No dad I mean- well- I, I'm just a little… suffocated some times.” I reply warily, his face falls a bit more. “But that's not your fault!” I say quickly, “I just like to go out to the kingdom sometimes, you know?Like just go out and see the… the lights.” I say my words slowly as I think of Virgil. “The lights are really pretty at night…” I say softly. Dad hums in agreement. 

“You always did enjoy the lights when you were younger, so did…” he trails off clearly avoiding something… or some one. Father and dad do this often when it comes to referring to Virgil I realize. Every time they ever got close to mentioning him they would trail off or pretend they were talking about a guard or some other person. 

“So did…?” I repeat in question. 

“So did the children of the kingdom.” he finishes, but I know he wasn't talking about them originally. I'm not sure why but anger starts to fester deep in my gut at my dads avoidance. 

“Oh.” I say, he looks up at me hearing the slight bite in my voice. He watches me carefully with that perfect smile of his. 

“Something wrong Ro?” He asks, running his fingers through my messy hair as father walks back in. I don't have to answer because my father speaks. 

“So Roman where did you go?” he asks in a calm voice, I can tell he's reading me though, he will be able to tell if I lie. 

“I went through the kingdom. I just needed some space for a bit.” I answer matching his calm speaking pattern. Not technically a lie, I did go through the kingdom on my way to the barrier. Another pro of having smart and overprotective parents, I've picked up the ability to lie- to most people…

“Where else did you go?” He presses, sensing I'm not telling the whole truth. 

I don't answer. 

“Roman.” He presses. 

Change the subject. 

“Why didn't you tell me I was attacked by sharks?” I ask, dad turns to me in shock and fathers inquisitive stare breaks confusion and panic flashing through his normally well concealed features. 

“What…?” father says quietly. Dad is stunned to silence. 

“Why did you hide the fact I had a best friend? You made me think I've always been alone other than Remus! Now he's gone too! Why don't you talk about anything before I was eight? Why are you lying to me? What else have you f*cking lied to me about?!?” I ask in a bit of a heated rush. The silence in the room compounds upon itself becoming more and more unbearable. My fathers expression remains openly confused as I glare at him. I shift my gaze to dad whose expression breaks me, his eyes are overflowing with tears, his hands over his mouth in a mix of shock and regret. They really must have thought that I would never find out, they had the entire kingdom in on it, no one has ever slipped up or mentioned anything wrong. My gaze hardens again when I receive no response from either of them. I get up quickly. “I'll be in my room.” I say firmly whipping around and swimming out the door leaving them alone with their crumpling lies. 


	6. Virgil III

I swim through the caves, Selia shocking me constantly as I maneuver through the tunnels. “I'm coming, I'm coming! Can you hold off on being p*ssed until I get there?” the overwhelming shock I receive from Selia tells me no. I turn another corner and enter into a large corridor that we use as our living space, Senpai is sitting with her legs crossed in her chair looking irritated. Her black hair is long and falls in a braid at her back, her tail starts black and fades to a golden yellow, flecked with white, her eyes an unsettling white to match. Her eyes narrowed at me, her scared eye looking extra menacing as she glared at me with her eel like pupal. Selia shocks me again and I move to take her off but she shocks my hand. I curse and look at Senpai. “Get her off of me.” Senpai snaps and Selia moves from around my neck and quickly coils around her master's shoulders. 

“What were you doing with him?” She asks sternly. 

“I don't know what you're talking about.” I respond crossing my arms, whenever she gets stern like this I always become defiant without trying. Habit I guess. I never took a cross tone with mom or dad, mostly because dad would kill me and mom would feel like she wasn't being a good parent. Senpai on the other hand is cursed to speak in lies, unless it’s a question, so I never feel bad for being cross with her. After living here for so long I’ve gotten really good at determining lies from what she really means to say. Most of the time her voice is venomous enough to where the lies match it, sometimes it doesn't though, when she’s trying to be sincere or helpful it’s especially annoying. 

“Why were you with the Prince?” she asks, I can tell she's more irritated now. I smirk. I'm about to respond when another person enters the room. 

“What about a prince?” asks a merman swimming out from the kitchen munching on some kelp chips. His tail is black at the top that fades to bright green by the time my eyes reach his tailfin. He's got sparkling silver eyes to match the silver flecks all over his tail. 

“I wasn't talking about you Remus,” Senpai says venomously. 

“Then who…” Remus looks at me for a moment as if he's trying to read my mind. His eyes flick to Senpai and after a moment more of thinking he smirks. “Janus there's only one prince other than me and I'm pretty sure your little snake didn't see Roman with Virgil.” He looks at me again and winks. He's taking my side trying to help me out like he normally does. 

“I told you to  _ always  _ call me that Remus, and I know what she saw-” Janus Senpai snaps back. 

“And I told you that I don't care what you want me to call you, also you are technically blind on one side because of that radial scar of yours and snakes can't see all that well, so it's probably not accurate what you think you saw.” 

“I let you stay in my house so I  _ don’t _ prefer you call me anything but my name, we've been through this.”

“Indeed we have Ms. Snake, or would you prefer Dee?” 

“Dee ? what does that even-”

“Dee for Deceit, and here I thought you were a great and malevolent sea witch. I mean you are constantly lying because of that curse and constantly lying to the world letting them believe you are some kind of demon, have you heard some of the stories they tell about you in the kingdom?” Remus is grinning and munching on his chips, he loves getting under Senpais skin. 

“I am  _ not  _ thinking of turning you into an octopus again.” Janus Senpai says coldly. 

“Soooo Dee it is then, perfect.” He says before dodging a magic blast from Janus and ducking behind the couch she's in, she turns around to get him and I take this as a perfect time to escape. I get up quickly and swim to the door but Selia must have seen me because as I make it to the door a blast of yellow light stops my advancement and drags me back into the room. 

“We  _ are _ done.” Senpai says sternly, sitting me back down on the couch keeping me still with her magic. I look over and find Remus is on another couch also wrapped in magic, though his hands are slowly turning to tentacles. Janus is smiling now and Remus isn't even struggling, he knows he can't escape her magic. 

“There's no way he was talking to Roman Dee, Roman’s in the palace with the entire guard watching him. They've already ‘lost’ one prince, yours truly, they're not losing another one.” Remus replies with a bored expression watching his fingers turn to tentacles… again. 

“Actually… I  _ was _ talking to Roman…” I say hesitantly, I watch as Remus’ face turns from bored to shock, “I'll um, I'll explain-” I interject before either of them have the chance to say anything. The only thing I don't like about magic binding spells is that I can't fidget so now I sit awkwardly and uncomfortably.

“ _ Don't _ explain, immediately.” Senpai warns. 

“Um, well… You see I went to my morning magic practice, over in the plane crash that I like and um well I'm not entirely sure what happened but I accidently cut my arm when I was training with my sword and didn't notice. So then when I was leaving a s-shark went to attack me and I casted a protection spell and when I opened my eyes Roman was just kind of there and he had used my sword to take care of the shark so then I pulled him with me to one of the caves so we should be safe from the sharks…” I slow down because the heat of the glares I'm receiving right now is scorching. “Umm… Well then we got to talking because he told me that I was familiar and I mean duh I'm familiar because we were best friends, until I left at least… why are both of you looking at me like that?”

“Virgil do you understand what you just did to my brother?” Remus says sourly. 

“Um…” I replied, shocked by the change in Remus’ tone, he was so playful earlier... he's rarely mad at me, my chest tightens as my anxiety starts to creep in. They’re mad at me. Remus’ scowl rivals that of Janus’ as they both glare daggers at me. Senpai moves her eyes away from me, her eyes mixing anger with worry. 

“There  _ isn’t  _ going to be an uproar in the palace…” Senpai whispers to herself. 

“Wha- what do you mean?” I hesitantly ask, my eyes shifting back and forth between them, Senpai is looking down at her tail while Remus is still glaring at me, I want to melt into the couch and disappear. 

“How much did you tell him?” the two look up and ask in sync. 

The amount of negative emotion in the room keeps getting worse. Did I do something wrong…? “I- um well… I told him who I am and how we used to be really close and w-what happened... on his eight birthday-'' My nervous rambling is cut off by Senpai. 

“You what!?” I frown worriedly at the tone she is giving me. Her magical hold on Remus drops as her focus moves to me completely the magic binds tightening around me.

“Wha- why can't I- He asked me- Why- why are you guys upset about this? What did I do wrong?” I ask, panicked by the reactions this has caused. Remus hasn't taken his eyes off me and the second his bindings released he swam closer, stopping about two feet away from me. Janus stays where she is her eyes distant like how they get when she's thinking or when she's really worried. In this case I feel like it's both. 

“How did he escape the palace?” Remus asks, his eyes cutting into me. 

“I'm not sure…” I lie, my gaze shifting around the room anxiously, my chest is starting to feel tight. 

“Virgil.” Senpai's voice cuts across the room. Her glare is on me again, I look everywhere in the room but her eyes. She knows I lied. God it's hot in here, are the magic binds the reason I can't breathe right now? No they aren't even that tight- I avoid their gazes again and Senpai clears her throat. I can feel my hands shaking even though I can't see them. 

“Yes-?” I manage to cough out, in between my unsteady short breaths. She doesn't notice my inbound panic attack. 

“Virgil!” Remus presses. 

“What-! He- I- Um- his royal powers are coming in and-” I try to choke out getting interrupted by Remus’ gasp. 

“What is it?” Remus asks, his interest briefly overcoming his incessant questioning. 

“Stop-!” I gasp out, my throat feels like it's closing up right now, shaking from head to toe, my breaths are so short that it's making me dizzy and Poseidon above, it's hot in this room.

“Virgil,  _ don’t _ answer the question!” Senpai pushes. 

“Quit pressuring me-” 

“What power does he have?” Remus asks again.

“Shut up-” 

“This could be  _ great _ for the Kingdom!” Janus shouts worriedly. 

“Please just-!”

“If the prince  _ doesn't _ argue with the kings-” Janus starts to explain.

“Leave me-!”

“The lies  _ won’t _ fall apart-” She cuts me off continuing. 

“ALONE!” I shout with the bits of breath I have left. I lock eyes with Janus the split second before I scream, her eyes go wide as she realizes what's about to occur, she casts a spell in that instant and yellow light falls across her and Remus right before I shout. When I do, my overwhelming anxious emotions burst out of me in a blast of purple shimmering light hitting everything in the room. The purple light rips the yellow magic from around me. I can feel my anxiety mixing with an unhealthy dose of magic induced power and adrenaline. My normally lavender eyes go all white, purple magic crackling in the water around me, my emotion feeding into the magic as my fight or flight reflexes kick in. 

“V-virgil you need to calm down- I’m sorry we yelled but I  _ don’t _ need you to breathe.” Janus speaks softly, she's up from her chair now watching me, her eyes wide with panic. My gaze hardens as the fight wins out. 

“NO! NEITHER OF YOU EVEN NOTICED THAT I'M NOT OKAY RIGHT NOW! I PRETEND LIKE I AM BUT I'M NOT-- I SAW MY BEST FRIEND THAT I THOUGHT WAS DEAD AND HE DOESN'T REMEMBER ME-- YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW F!CKING HARD THAT IS— HELL I'M STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW HARD THAT IS AND YET THE BOTH OF YOU IMMEDIATELY QUESTION AND YELL AT ME. JUST SHUT UP SHUT THE F!CK UP!” I yell as another purple shockwave bursts out of me. It hits most objects in the room, breaking them or killing them immediately like the plants in the room. The purple light strikes both of them but does not affect them, I vaguely recognize the spell she cast earlier as a protection spell. 

“Virgil we  _ meant _ to make you anxious- f!cking curse- I mean we  _ meant _ to- damn!t- please-” 

“SHUT UP- YOUR LIES ARE NOT F!CKING HELPING! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!” I shout, causing a third shockwave. “JUST LEt me… be… p-plea… se...” my voice slowly falls off as massive amounts of fatigue compound on me, the rushing magic in my veins gone with the last shockwave. I shiver violently as the energy drains out of me, my eyes shift back to lavender and slip closed as I fall to the ground blacking out. 


	7. Roman IV

It's quiet in my room. The palace has been completely silent since yesterday's outburst. I've avoided the kings over the course of the last few hours, sending a few guards to get me food from the kitchen so I can avoid them entirely. They've come to my room a few times, I ignore them. I got new guards by my door too… well guard. I only have one now, apparently I always had two new ones because they didn't want to risk me getting close enough to anyone to have them slip up and tell me about my past. They also didn't want to test my memory by giving me a single guard like I had when I was little… with Remy. With a lengthy sigh I move from my spot at the window, I've been in that spot in recent hours, gazing out over the kingdom in the direction of the caves. I wonder how Virgil’s doing. Ever since I left I feel uneven again, like I did before, like I'm missing something… like I'm missing my best friend. Again… I swim back to the door of my room. I open the door slowly and peer out at my guard Lydia. It's getting close to the time I told Virgil I would be back. Maybe I can sneak past her, I turn invisible and move as slowly as possible through the crack I've created. She is currently watching another guard down the hall make their rounds. I make it out and close the door with my tail as quietly as I can Lydia looks up. I swim higher and she's looking at the door now. 

“And where do you think you're going Roman?” Lydia says glaring where I'm hovering over the door. Frick. I stay quiet. “Roman, come on I'm not messing around.” I turn visible again frowning. 

“How did you see me?” 

“Lets just say I had a feeling.” She glances down the hall as the guards there round the corner. “Hurry up, you've got to go now if you're going to leave.” I stare at her dumbstruck for a moment. 

“I- what?” 

“Hurry! Go invisible!” She says and I listen as two guards round the corner back into this hallway. How did she know? Is she really helping me? She keeps a straight face like she would if she were just watching my room as she was before. “In about ten minutes the guards will switch off, the new guards will be more attentive and we've been trained to notice shifts in the water, because you're invisible but we can still feel you move through the water. These guards have been here all day and will likely not pay as close attention to the water, swim high enough and you can get out. Third armor on the left in the hall to your right has a loose sword, take it for protection. I know you're strong enough to handle yourself. The armour directly across from the one with the loose sword, turn the shield in its hand to the left slightly and the wall will open up. You'll have to wait until those guards leave so you're not spotted, you should get there at their break so if you time it right you should be fine. Once you enter on your right on the ground there will be a sheath for the sword, put it on and put the sword on it so you don't have to carry it all the time. The passage takes you out of the castle, keep going straight and you'll head straight through the barrier.” I don't move, my heart skipping a beat as I watch her still shocked by the words coming out of her mouth right now. “Stop giving me that stupid face and hurry up idiot. I'll cover for you.” 

I don't hesitate a moment more, swimming away from her and down the hall to the right and counting the armour as instructed. I get to the one with the loose sword and take the hilt, before I can pull it free I hear guards walking down in front of me. I look up and shift so my invisible body is out of the way. I wait patiently for them to pass watching as it takes painfully longer than I would have liked. Once I'm sure they're gone I swim back and pull the sword free and turn around quickly to twist the shield. Once I do, true to Lydia’s word, it turns slightly and the wall gives way to a passageway sloping down. After putting on the sheath and sliping the sword into it on my back, I swim down and through the corridors, and into a hall. Hearing the stones grind closed behind me I whip around and my breath pitches as the lights flees with the closing door. I wait with baited breath for lights of some sort to kick in to illuminate the pitch black hall. I turn back around so my back is to the doorway still hoping. When nothing happens I move slowly to the wall pressing my hand against it to catch my breath. It's fine I can just follow the wall out, I don't need light, she said go straight. My hand touches a cool smoothe stone that lights yellow under my touch, the stone in front of it lights as well and continues until a line of yellow leads me forward. I swim quickly following the path that has appeared in front of me. It's not long before I make it out of the cave and to a trapdoor of sorts I swim up and push it open making my way out still invisible. I cover it again with sand like before but mark the sand with a few pieces of coral for when I need to come back. It's not long before I make it past the border marker. 

“Virgil…?” I whisper looking around cautiously before whispering his name again, both times with no response. I attempt to tuck away the sinking feeling in response to him not being here. I mean didn't exactly give a place or time that I would be back. I should check the crash site where I saw him go to practice and train yesterday. He may be there… If not I'll have to try to navigate the caves to find him. I swim to check it remembering that there should be some kind of spell on it to make it invisible. As soon as I enter the clearing it's apparent that he never covered it back after yesterday's interaction. Oh right the sharks, he must have been too panicked to remember to cover it back. I frown slightly, that may have been my fault… I wonder why he hides it all the time anyway, I swim inside finding it empty. With a soft sigh I swim in further curious about his collection of items. I notice it's well organized here, well more so than my room at the palace, I smirk to myself running my fingers across the smooth surface of his table. It's clearly made by magic, completely composed of sea glass, a beautiful mesch of blacks, purples and pinks. I smile softly tracing a pink stone, Emile, my fingers move to a black one, Remy, then to the purple ones, Virgil. I hum softly to myself, I never took him for the artsy type, I back away from the table feeling a pang of sadness in my chest looking at the room again but this time in a different light. I pay attention to every color, every detail picking out the colors of everyone he cares about hidden throughout the room. Mostly blacks and pinks, I see some green and yellow which I suppose hints to other people, though I'm not sure who. That's when I notice there is no red, not a single red piece in the room, no red and no gold whatsoever. The closest thing I find in relation to the palace is a sea glass picture on the wall made of blues, dark blue and teal specifically which I assume represents my fathers. He must have cared about them too, so why…? Why is there nothing representing me here at all, not that I'm upset or anything, just curious. Yeah, just curious. I swim out of the crash site. Okay, well he wasn't in here, that would mean he's in the caves right? He seemed to know his way around them and that eel that he saw came from deeper in, he spoke to it so maybe it's a pet of sorts, though it didn't seem very happy. I swim toward the caves and call his name upon entry. 

“Virgil?” I call softly swimming through the first path, I continue to call out to him getting louder as I move through the caves. They are lit by the same yellow crystals as the hidden palace hallway, there are less of them here though and they don't seem to be leading me anywhere this time. I stop and turn about thirty minutes into my search looking behind me. I don't remember how many turns I've taken or which directions I've been going in.

… well frick. 

I swim back and within seconds I'm back outside the caves. 

“Magic. It has to be magic to keep merpeople out.” I whisper to myself turning back around to the cave entrance with determination blazing through my body. Magic means I'm in the right place. “I'm coming Virgil.” I say swimming back into the cave. 


End file.
